Six girls escape from an African ceremony of female circumcision. Two flee to the city while Colle Ardo Gallo Sy, one of the wives of a village tribesman, takes four in. Colle puts the spell of Moolaade, protection, over the girls, to keep them safe. [TRAILER]

STEVEN SNYDER'S REVIEW

The death of the brilliant playwright Arthur Miller unleashed an ocean of obituaries, each discussing his determination to keep American theater relevant and immediate. He wrote about Americans today, not the past or the future, and in his most performed work – “The Crucible” – he took on the world of McCarthyism while the red scare was fresh in the minds of Americans.

As a body of work, the films of Ousmane Sembene are quite similar, tackling the pressing and controversial issues affecting the lives of Africans.

“Moolaade” is a film made with anger and passion that is in parts infuriating, inspiring and heartbreaking. It is also refreshingly unapologetic, confident and, while it may be manipulative, interested in seeing both sides of an issue that few reading these words will likely know much about.

Before you read another word, know that this is a great movie.

It is partly about the often-lethal practice of female circumcision, or genital mutilation, in African cultures – a practice that is fiercely dividing those who believe it is in the tradition of Islam, and others who believe it is barbaric and unnecessary.

Sembene would fall in the second camp, although he shows mutilation as only one of the several vehicles through which this culture’s males suppress the female’s body, thoughts and freedom.

Sounds pretty heavy, huh?

Some of it is, but the film is not a disgusting or a shocking whole. It is a movie about a culture and its customs, citizens, generations, technology, freedom of expression and finally an uprising that has been long overdue.

The “moolaade,” as they call it, is essentially a declaration of safety afforded by their culture’s Gods. When Colle Ardo Gallo Sy (Fatoumata Coulibaly) calls a “moolaade,” it is to protect a number of girls who have come to her in hopes of finding immunity from elders who insist that they be circumcised in a painful, disfiguring and often deadly procedure.

Colle has refused to have her own child “cut,” and says she will protect these children from the barbarism. This goes against tradition and, more importantly, what the men of the society want. To be uncircumcised is to be “unclean,” and all of the town’s rulers say they refuse to go to bed with an unclean mate. Note they must do nothing to be considered “clean.”

The wild card of the story is the son of the village chief (Moussa Theophile Sowie), who returns home from his travels in the Western world, now aware of civilization, media and individual rights. When, as punishment for their revolt, the elders start confiscating women’s radios and even whip Colle for defying her husband, the leader-to-be starts to see the flaws in his closed-minded, archaic culture.

Apart from a moving film about human rights, “Moolaade” is a fascinating glimpse into an African culture and the clashing, passionate voices of both the traditionalists and the progressives. Sembene’s real accomplishment here is in helping us to understand the courage required from these women in simply raising their voices in this world, making it that much more inspirational and stunning when Sembene finally stands up and says no more.

Like many of Miller’s works, where a repetitive mantra of defiance or revolution overwhelms the story’s drama, “Moolaade” is a two-hour, building chorus of voices screaming for change – change that, over the course of the film, evolves from a distant whim to the only possible course of action.

Sembene’s final edit reduces this evolution to a single cut, the smoke rising from a fire of repression heralding a wave of freedom that will not be denied.

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